7.1: Materializing the Concept into Facility Development

Chapter 7 Learning Objectives

• Understand the importance of market evaluation to design a facility.
• Gain a working knowledge regarding how to think about facility inclusions.
• Understand the function of money in the facility design process.
• Know the elements of a poor location.
• Comprehend how to think about real estate worth.
• Gain the ability to perform a detailed analysis of a restaurant’s location.
• Utilize a facility checklist.
• Learn how to integrate concept and location.
• Understand how to equip a facility.
• Understand how to locate various components within a facility.
• Apply design state considerations to a facility.
• Gain a working knowledge of facility space considerations.
• Gain a working knowledge of the various licensing and permits necessary for restaurant operation.

“Nothing belongs to itself anymore. These trees are yours because you once looked at them. These streets are yours because you once traversed them. These coffee shops and bookshops, these cafés and bars, their sole owner is you. Nothing belongs to itself anymore."
Kamand Kojouri

“It’s hard to target a message to a generic 35-year-old middle-class working mother of two. It’s much easier to target a message to Jennifer, who has two children under four, works as a paralegal, and is always looking for quick but healthy dinners and ways to spend more time with her kids and less time on housework.”
Elizabeth Gardner

To begin to think about what the physical facility should represent to a potential clientele. The concept integrate into the building design to position the concept as well as the delivery of products and services in the minds of those patrons the operation intends to attract. The successful foodservice operation combines the following elements of concept development into the actual design of the physical facility: market, menu, money, management, and method of execution. Each will receive discussion in detail later in the chapter, but this initial grouping should help to center their importance to the restaurant's physical presence.

Market

Once an examination of the trading area occurs to gather the appropriate demographic, psychographic, and behavioral profile, an analysis of the data should render sufficient information to make segmentation choices and provide answers to the following relevant questions pertinent to the determination of what the physical facility should offer to the operation. Basic market questions include:

• To whom are you marketing the food operation? Before construction begins on the facility, the operation must have a clear idea about specifically 'who' the preferred clientele will be. Are they young, middle-aged, families, older couples? Each category of customer prefers certain amenities.
• Is the market large enough to generate sales and produce a profit? This question can reflect the city and trading area itself, or equally used to refer to different clientele brackets. If one intended segment of the market is not sufficient to cover the expenses of the operation and produce a profit, then additional segments must be included and the requirements of those additional patrons should receive consideration in the design process.
• How will you identify the market? What is the segmentation strategy? Based on the size of the city, and trading area, choose and describe each segment of patrons the facility must attract.
• What level of competition exists in the market? What quality standard and level of functionality do direct competitors offer your intended patrons? What could you do to enhance the customer's experience and sense of obtained value?
• What method(s) will be useable to communicate to this market? This question is important to consider when deciding on the facade, ground, lighting, signage, and logo design of the facility to name a few important items.
• Will the potential customer want or need the food product? This question speaks directing to the sunk costs of the facility and subsequent pricing because of expenses incurred. If customers feel a 'need' for the products and services of the restaurant, they will typically be willing to pay a bit more than customers who are will to more toward substitutes to obtain greater value should financial considerations come into play.
• Will a quality assurance plan be developed that will encourage the customer to return because of superior service and/or product quality? The operation and facility must always deliver what the concept marketing indicates patrons can expect. Too often operations fall short of advertised promises. The facility design must meet both the desired and pubically conveyed standards the operation must maintain the public trust and its perception of value.
• Will internal marketing successfully sell the customer additional services or products and maintain different avenues of product and service delivery? From the broad perspective, the facility design must display products and logo items of the concept. Additionally, how will you handle customer delivery orders if that form of service is available? Will you force customers placing take-out orders to mingle with seated patrons? Will the facility have a convenient walk-up design for those wishing to remain in casually dress? How will payment be made and food delivered to these customers. The devil is always in the design.

Most operations fail to plan the various ways customers are reachable by their concept. All areas of the operation should complement each other without impeding any other area. Each customer should receive a superior product and service experience no matter what manner of delivery is desirable. Stated differently, many operators consider delivery, or take-out, as just additional revenue. The prudent operator that it is also an expansion of the dining room and a decision to utilize the operation when the customer makes the decision to use the operation's services in a capacity other than 'seated' dining - as such, this is business that would be lost if avenues other than sit-down dining were not offered.

A classic mistake made by both large corporations and individual restaurant operators is to conduct the market analysis and then fail to act based on the information obtained.

Facility

The menu has a tremendous influence on the design and success of a food operation. An operator must constantly frame his or her thinking of the menu as the primary or sole source of revenue for the operation that will cover the expenditures of the operation on a monthly or yearly basis, and provide the profits sought by the organization. Will the menu be static, seasonal, broad, or narrow? Is there a balance among sautéed, gridded, and fried items - or will one station bear the burden of production? From a design and layout perspective, these are just some of the factors determined by the menu:

Amount of space required

A complex menu requires more space to prepare items than a limited, or simple, menu because separate workstations and additional equipment are necessary. Depending on the amount of space available in a prime location, 'make' or 'purchase' decisions may well become practical considerations. Will artisan breads, rolls, or desserts be prepared from scratch in house? Will these items be outsourceable? Do we actually need an ‘on premise’ bakery? Will you plate-up desserts with ice cream in the hot kitchen? How will you segregate and partition the kitchen? How will you stock preparation areas? Product control considerations? The list can be extensive.

Service area size and design

The greater the number of menu items, the more area required for service in the kitchen as well as staging and work stations necessary in the dining room (each different entrée requires a point of service and each form of beverage a dispenser). Stated a bit differently, how far do you expect your service staff to travel to obtain or prepare necessary amenities for the customer? How involved in the preparation of certain products would you expect the service staff to be engaged in? Table setting, bread, butter, drink and/or dessert service? These questions speaks to the spatial aspects of floor plans as well as the number of tables that a server can adequately handle in terms of movement and product/service delivery.

Dishwashing area, size, and machine capacity

Complex menus require multiple plates, dishes, and utensils, so the dishwashing area and machine capacity will need to be greater than in the case of simple menus. Based on the size of the operation, will one dishwashing area suffice to maintain smooth and efficient service? Should one dish area exist for the kitchen and one for the dining room items such as plates, glasses, and utensils? A well-planned ware-washing arrangement could reduce the amount of plates, glasses and flatware necessary to the flow of service.

Types of cooking equipment

Complex menus require multiple types of equipment, especially in the final preparation area, where it may be necessary to steam, fry, bake, and sauté. Which pieces of equipment are necessary to execute the menu? Which items utilize the same pieces of equipment? What about preparation for different day parts? Is the intended equipment sufficient to prep and prepare items for dinner while luck is in progress? Can we receive multiple food deliveries per week that would reduce the need for a freezer? Product procurement is an often-overlooked consideration regarding space allotment in the kitchen.

Equipment capacity – limited menus may require relatively few pieces of equipment but with large capacities. Complex menus may require many different types of equipment with relatively smaller capacities.

Size of dry and refrigerated storage areas

The size of the dry and refrigerated storage areas is central to the ingredients needed to execute the menu. What are the packaging dimensions for these necessary ingredients - both dry and those needing refrigeration or freezing? Plan these issues to accomplish a storage area and scheme that facilitated product safety, security, freshness, taking inventory, and product rotation.

While product specifications can be easily obtainable from the market suppliers, one important aspect of procurement often goes overlooked when space decisions are considered. How often will the supplier make a delivery to the operation? The projected volume of the restaurant should be a consideration along with the frequency of delivery when determining spacing needs. ‘Just in time’ ordering requires less space. For instance, products from a supplier that delivers three times a week as opposed to once a week would require less space for the products they provide to the operation. The operator, for example, does not have to project customer volume and a pad should that volume increase. You will be able to replenish products utilized for a larger Monday dinner crowd on Wednesday rather than having to take a chance on running out of ingredients before the following week's shipment.

Number of employees

When factoring in the menu and the amount of customer volume, how many employees will the operation need to run smoothly? During slower periods, will equipment capacity and placement allow for fewer employees in your kitchen and dining room? Will you section off portions of the dining area to allow for good customers service with them feeling alone in the dining room? This takes planning from the beginning of facility development.

Amount of investment required

The investment you require must center initially on the amount of money your target market can afford to spend on a meal. The facility must embody your marketing scheme and brand elements. Your menu selections and pricing must consider your cost and profit factors. Thus, the menu must be affordable to your consumers and cover your expenses and profit. Do not build a facility at odds with this fact. While an attractive facility is important, it cannot exceed in cost what your menu and target market can reasonably afford or you will see your customers once a month rather than once a week. The message is to not ‘over-build’ the facility to the detriment of the operation.

Money

Successful capitalization of a food facility includes funding for the following items.

• Planning costs
• Building construction or renovation
• Equipment (fixed)
• China, glassware, utensils
• Furniture and fixtures
• Décor
• Start-up and operating costs

Obtaining funds is a two-stage process – preliminary identify financial support, after concept development securing investors or lenders.

Management

The quality of the management of the operation will be the most important element in achieving success. Typical questions that owners must address include:

• Who will operate the facility?
• What kind of food experience and educational background must this person have?
• Who will assist this person in covering the long hours that are usually required to operate the facility?
• What level of pay will this person receive?
• Will this person receive compensation in some way for excellent sales and profit results?
• How will the owners set operational policies and communicate these to the management staff?

The answers to these questions will determine the organizational structure and the kind of management team that will efficiently operate the food facility. Investors or institutional administrations prefer traditional management principles of good communication, strong controls, and sound personnel relations.